STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – No. 18 Rutgers field hockey closed out the regular season on the road Friday evening, taking down Penn State in a 4-2 win. The victory gave RU a 9-8 overall record and a 4-4 mark in Big Ten play, clinching a Big Ten Tournament berth for RU. The Scarlet Knights finished in a tie for fourth place in the conference and earned the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament, drawing No. 4 seed Michigan in the upcoming Quarterfinals on Thursday. RU has now won three straight and seven of the past eight games against Penn State.

The game was fairly even in the stats, with shots at an 11-10 RU advantage, corners 4-1 for RU, and shots on goal at 6-6. But RU came out strong, establishing an early 3-0 lead just seven minutes into the game with three goals in a span of 2:40, and Emily Nicholls had four saves for RU to preserve the win. RU had four different goal scorers: Olivia de Zwaan, Olivia Fraticelli, Sophie Kuiper and Paulina Niklaus.

The first goal for the Scarlet Knights came just four minutes into the game. RU pressured Penn State into a turnover on their side of the field and came with a quick counterattack up the field with numbers. Olivia de Zwaan took the ball into space on the goalkeeper's right, and launched in a hard shot that put the visitors ahead 1-0 in the early going. Martha Goodridge created the turnover and found de Zwaan, who ran into space for the backhanded shot.

The second goal for the visitors came off a penalty corner, which was well executed by the Scarlet Knights. Puck Winter inserted and sent the ball to the top, where it was stick stopped and left for Anna Cogdell. She then sent a pass towards the back post, where Olivia Fraticelli redirected it for the goal. The tally was Fraticelli's team-leading 10^th score of the season and put RU ahead 2-0 just under six minutes into the contest.

The third goal followed just another minute later. Again, it was RU pressuring Penn State into a turnover on their own side of the field. Kuiper had a great tackle to take the ball away with space just ahead of the circle and start a 2-on-0 break with the goalkeeper. Kuiper kept it and finished off a shot for the 3-0 advantage.  

Penn State got one back late in the first quarter. On the attack, the Nittany Lions had a player stationed in front of the goalkeeper, who redirected a shot home to cut RU's lead to 3-1.

PSU got another goal with five minutes remaining in the second quarter. After an initial shot was kicked aside, Penn State gathered the rebound and sent home a long shot for the second goal of the half for the home side.

In the third quarter, RU added an insurance tally. After being awarded a penalty stroke, Paulina Niklaus stepped up and scored it for RU, giving them the 4-2 lead that would be the final margin.  

Postgame Notes

• Rutgers has led by at least three goals in three of their Big Ten wins (4-0 win over Indiana, 5-0 win over Michigan State, 4-2 win after 3-0 lead at PSU).
• Olivia Fraticelli leads the team with 10 goals. She is just the second RU player over the past seven seasons to reach double-digit goals, joined by Guillermina Causarano (12, 2023).
• Rutgers finished the season with a 5-1 record in true road games.
• RU reached four Big Ten wins for the third straight season.
• RU has now won three straight and seven of the past eight games against Penn State.

Up Next

With the win, RU officially earned their spot in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament, which will be hosted by Indiana University. The Scarlet Knights play in game one of the event on Thursday at 11 a.m., facing No. 4 seed Michigan (who RU lost to 2-1 in the regular season despite leading 1-0 after 45 minutes of action). With a win over the Wolverines, the Scarlet Knights would be slated to face No. 1 seed Northwestern on Friday in the semifinals (1 p.m.).